In searching for the true relation
between the natural and the spiritual,
we are called to look again at
the types and allegories.
It has been
seen and is a familiar fact to most of
our readers, that the Lord uses natural
things to represent spiritual
things.
This method of teaching is
doubtless more common in the Bible
than is generally supposed.
We
have long been convinced that the
writings of Moses are largely allegorical;
but we would guard against
extremes.
Some deny the literal
meaning, because of the allegorical
and typical, but our view is that in addition to the literal they have a
superior value, on account of their
representing the great plan of salvation.
They mean all they say, but
they mean much more than they say.

What they say is the letter, but the
deeper meaning is the Spirit.
To
the Jew and to many Christians, the
letter is as the veil which hides or
obscures the real and deeper truth.
Paul treats of this subject in 2 Cor. 3,
and we might truly say still, as
he said of the Jew: "Even unto this
day, when Moses is read, the veil is
upon their heart."(Ver. 15.)
The
tendency of seeing only the letter is
killing, but the Spirit, appreciated,
tends to liberty and life.
"The letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."(Ver. 6.)
"Now the Lord is that
Spirit; and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty."(Ver. 17.)
Combining the teachings of Paul
and the Saviour himself (Jno. 5:45-47,)
we draw the conclusion that
the writings of Moses contain the
gospel of the Son of God, as a shell
contains a kernel; that both are real
and each is valuable in its own place
and for the purpose designed; but
the kernel is more valuable than the
shell.
We regard the whole Bible
as none too large, and all teaching
directly or indirectly the gospel of
Christ.
The Lord is the Golden
Thread of revelation, as he is the
soul of the plan of salvation.
From
all who can see the fullness and
harmony of the writings of the Old
Testament with the gospel of Christ, [R67 : page 5] the spirit of doubt as to the Divine
inspiration of the Bible will flee
away.
The fact that the truth has
been hidden for ages and yet there, under cover of the mere history, is,
to us, a strong evidence that no
human mind laid the plan of the
book or the great salvation brought
to light by it.

When men begin to see the flood
of light from this source, there may
be a liability to lose balance or to be
carried too far in the application.
An extreme spiritualism should be
avoided as well as an extreme materialism.
We do not believe that
every portion of the Bible has double
meaning as do some.
Some portions
relate wholly to the natural and
some wholly to the spiritual, and
the natural represents the spiritual,
so that the relation of the two in the
plan is preserved.
For instance,
there are two Jerusalemsthe old
and the new, the natural and the
spiritualand the old is doubtless a
type of the new, but sometimes the
Lord speaks of the one and sometimes
of the other and we should be
careful not to confound them.

We would call special attention to
the fact that antitypes are not alwayswholly spiritual. This has been overlooked
by some in the treatment of
this subject, and confusion instead of
light has been the result.
Adam is
a type of Christ, but in Christ is
combined both the natural and thespiritual, in the order of development.
So this antitype is not wholly
spiritual.
The spirit of a type is
what it means.
Many types foreshadow
the great plan of salvation,
but the plan has the two elements:
First the natural and afterward the
spiritual; and therefore the type
represents both.

Christ's life is the key to the plan;
two births and two lives are brought
to view, and at his death and resurrection
is the turning point between
them.
He was born of the flesh first,
and afterward of the spirit.
He was
"put to death in the flesh, and made
alive by the spirit." 1 Pet. 3:18.
The life he lived before his death was
natural, and the life by resurrection
was spiritual, and Adam as a type
represented both.
In the natural
life Christ was alone, (he had no
church, then) and "Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." Jno. 12:24.
He
died to bring forth fruit.
So Adam
was alone for a time, and the Lord
said "it is not good for a man to be
alone, and the Lord caused a deep
sleep to come upon him;" and so his
wife was developed from his side.

That part of Adam's life which was
before he fell asleep, represented
Christ's natural life, and Adam's falling
asleep, represented Christ's naturaldeath. So we see that Christ's
flesh life and his natural death are a
part of the antitype, and an important
part of the plan; let no man dare to
belittle them; on the other hand let
no one confound the natural with the
after and spiritual life of Christ.
Adam's life, after awaking from sleep,
represented Christ's life after his resurrection.
His marriage represented
the marriage of the Lamb, the generation
of the race the regeneration
of the race, and the dominion over
all given to Adam and his wife, represents
the united reign of Christ
and his wifethe churchover the
Earth and the nations in the world
to come.
"Come hither, and I will
show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife,
and he showed me...that great [R68 : page 5] city, the holy Jerusalem."
"And
the nations shall walk in the light of
it." Rev. 21:9,10,24.

The bride in both type and antitype
becomes a mother, and therefore
imparts her own nature to her
offspring.
No one can see this great
fact, without being impressed with
the magnitude of the plan, and the
fullness of the love of God.
Isaac,
the son of faithful Abraham, is a
type of the Son of God, the Father
of the faithful in the highest sense.
Isaac was offered a sacrifice, being
three days subject to death, and was
received from the dead, all in figure,
and Jesus the Son of God died, and
rose again the third day, in fact.
The calling of the wife, the marriage
and the development of the family,
in both type and antitype, follow the
resurrection in proper order.
Isaac's
life, before he was offered, represents Christ's life, before he was offeredthe natural life, the sacrifice of Isaac
in figure represented the sacrifice of
Christ's natural life; for Christ gave
his natural life (psuchee) a ransom
for many; and the after life of Isaac
represented the spiritual life of Christ.
Here again it is clear that the antitype
is both natural and spiritual.
Joseph went into the pit and came
out again, and was exalted to the
right hand of power in Egypt, and
became the Bread keeper and Life
preserver for both Egypt and Israel.
Joseph had a life before he went into
the pit, as well as after he came out,
and so had Christ the antitype.

Moses came twice to his own peoplenatural Israel, and was rejected
at the first, but delivered them at the
second coming.
So of Christ, He
comes twice to the same people, is
rejected at the first and at the second
delivers them.
The coming in flesh,
and the coming in glory are both
represented, in that type, and yet
both are to the natural seed.
In
each of these types, Adam, Isaac,
Joseph and Moses, the death of Christ
is foreshadowed, though none actually
died.
Adam fell asleep; Isaac
was offered in spirit; Joseph went
into the pit; and Moses had to flee
for his life.
The death of Christ is
shown, in this and many other ways
to be an important part of the plan.
It is the turning point between the
natural and the spiritual; and to say
that the natural life, the flesh and
blood life of Christ profiteth nothing,
is to say that God's plan is all spiritual,
instead of "first the natural and
afterward the spiritual."
This would
be a strange perversion of Christ's
words, "The flesh profiteth nothing;"
for Christ was speaking figuratively,
when he said, "Except ye
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, ye have no life in
you."
Eating literal flesh, and drinking
literal blood, of course would
profit nothing, in giving spiritual
life, and therefore Christ wanted
them to understand that he was not
talking of the literal.
But that does
not destroy the fact, that Christ had
literal flesh and blood, that he took
it for a purpose, (Heb. 2:9,14,15.)
and that he actually died.

The spirit could not take the place
of the flesh, any more than the flesh
could take the place of the spirit:
both would be equally unprofitable,
out of their order.
Observe the order
and all is clear, harmonious and
beautiful.
Christ gave his natural
life (psuchee) to redeem man, and
gives us the spiritual to live by, and
we must eat it (i.e. receive the truth)
in order to sustain life, (spiritual.)
The value of the cross (death) of our
Lord Jesus, is beautifully enforced
by the two cherubim.
The centre is
the meeting place, the point of reconciliation
between God and man, and
so Paul says we are reconciled to
God by the death of his Son. Rom. 5:10.
The one cherub represents
the Jewish church looking forward,
and the second the Gospel church
looking back.
The first therefore
represents the natural and the second
the spiritual, and the antitype is
again proved to contain both.
From
these facts we may see another.
Because
Elijah was a type of the Gospel
church, and Elijah healed the sick
and raised the dead (physically) it
does not follow that the antitypical
Elijah can only deal with spiritual
life.
Just as surely as to restore is
to give back what was lost, so surely
Christ and the church, will restore
natural life to the world; It has not
been proved yet, though often assumed
and asserted, that man lost spiritual
life by Adam's sin.
But because
restoration is the work of Christ and
the church, let no one conclude that
they will do nothing more.
Elijah
represents Christ as Restorer, and
Adam represents Christ as Head of
an immortal race.

We do not presume to have exhausted
this subject; no doubt there
is much more to be learned.
Each
new truth learned must be retained
if we would grow, and we are quite
sure that any idea advanced, that
ignores either the natural or the
spiritual in the plan, is darkness instead
of light, and if taken as the
key to other ideas, will lead to greater
darkness.
It is doubtless true
that many stumble because they fail
to discern the spiritual; and as a
means of safety we suggest the necessity
of keeping in mind the relationbetween the natural and the spiritual.